Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death [DVD] [1963]

The acting is also worthy of praise. Doctor Who has had its fair share of cheap extras in its time, going over the top and giving the series a reputation for being a pantomime. That can't be said for this particular story. The extras aren't merely people to be killed by the monsters or help the Doctor defeat them, they are people in their own right, and we get the impression that they have a history and motivations, even when they're only in minor roles. Of particular merit is the old gentleman who designed the last rocket ship before space travel was replaced by the revolutionary T-Mat transportation technology, and Miss Kelly, the feisty chief technician for T-Mat on Earth who actually manages to appear authoritative and isn't patronisingly put into a mini skirt.

Patrick Troughton, nearing the end of his tenure, looks comfortable and assured in the role. He gets to do a bit of his usual clowning, but as with the best Doctor Who stories, we are left to wonder by his performance if perhaps the Doctor isn't quite as ahead of the game as he likes to think he is. In a particularly welcome twist, it is the Doctor who gets captured by the Ice Warriors, not Jamie and Zoe, even though it looks like they're wandering into that particular clichéd plot device, as so often happens in inferior stories when they're running out of steam.

If there's one niggle, it's the Ice Warriors, who do tend to lumber about in their baggy rubber suits. Beyond that, though, the production values are far better than the original series of Star Trek, which was being made at the same time. As villains, the Ice Warriors are hardly Daleks or Cybermen, though they do manage to get a lot closer to conquering Earth here than their more popular franchise mates do on occasion. Their plan is not only quite crafty but also particular evidence of this story's resourcefulness. By sending a fungal virus to wipe us out first, the story can be restricted to sets for the moonbase, T-Mat control, a space rocket cockpit, a few exterior locations and a weather control centre. Yet it retains the feel of being an epic.

This is a two DVD set, with the six-part story on the first disc and a small mountain of extras on the second, the most interesting of which was the lost footage from The Evil of the Daleks. This is a much longer edit of some footage featured on the Tomb of the Cybermen DVD, this time with a commentary as well.

With regards to the extra's my favourite is the commentary with companions Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Director Michael Ferguson and in the later parts Terrance Dicks (I know, I was shocked when he popped up too, turns out he did uncredited rewrites on the later part of the story). All are in fine form and the comments towards Troughton are incredibly touching. The quality of the picture is also vastly improved from the poorly edited and scratchy VHS version - its just so amazing to see this type of quality in a black and white story. Theres a nice little interview with various actors who played Ice Warriors and the makeup artist. However a must for any fans is footage of effects shots from (the missing/deleted) Evil of the Daleks which shows us a quick glimpse of this epic.

To sum up I think this is perhaps the best Ice Warrior story (they seem to work more in black and white for me) and a good example of the Patrick Troughton stories that still remain. Theres not a lot of this gorgeous era remaining so I'd recomend enjoying what little is left...

Growing up in the 80's I remember Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy in the role, I've seen the colour episodes from Jon Pertwee and Tom Bakers era on video or on one of many screenings on satelite TV, but no-one has ever bothered much with the early black and white episodes. I'm glad the BBC are taking the stance that they are on this, releasing stories from each doctor in turn, and with the early episodes taking the time and care to restore the original prints to make the picture and sound look much better than they've looked at any time since their first broadcast in 1969. BBC TV may not have treated the series with much respect, but at least BBC Video are making a serious effort. Like all the releases before it, we get an audio commentary by four cast and crew members plus a text production notes track.

The audio commentary is interesting in that people come and go during each episode. We begin with director Michael Ferguson plus Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe) for episode one, and they are joined by writer/script editor Terrance Dicks for episode three(a familiar name to anyone who has ever read any of the Target range of Doctor Who novels!). Ferguson then disappears until episode four when Padbury and Hines disappear so Dicks and Ferguson are left to discuss the episode alone, and so it goes on. This works quite effectively, making one of the better 'Who' commentaries I've heard.

This release comes on two disks - the six part feature and commentaries on disk one, with disk two containing the extras - the main one being a 25-minute new documentary on the Ice Warriors which interviews those actors who were under the monster suits. "The Lost Dalek" feature is very similiar to that on the other Troughton DVD release "Tomb of the Cybermen", while the cesnor clips from two 'lost' episodes are depressingly short - but at least they're there and its nice to finally see a Yeti roaming the London Underground! As a result, the second disk just seems a bit empty. Nevertheless, this is another fine release from the BBC as the show enters its fourtieth anniversary. A good buy.